04 July 2010

Obituary--Thomas Jefferson and John Adams

No common event has clothed our columns in the habiliments of mourning. Two of the great and gifted of our country men, the venerated fathers of our Republic, THOMAS JEFFERSON AND JOHN ADAMS, are no more! It is not amongst the least of the events so wisely ordered in the progress of this country, that the Author of the Declaration of its Liberties , and his eminent associate in that duty, should be permitted not only to live, and to witness the prosperous experiment of half a century, but that on that day fifty years on which they signed and issued their Declaration to the world, they should be called, both together, from amongst a people so signally blessed by their labours. They were glorious in their lives, and in their deaths they were not divided. They have enjoyed in their life-time equal and the highest honours within the gift of a grateful country. In their deaths, the measure of their fame is full. Their memories are hallowed. Mr. Adams was in the 92d year of his age. Mr. Jefferson was aged 83 years, 3 months and 2 days.(From the NY Statesman.)The venerable JOHN ADAMS, late President of the United States, one of the ablest and most efficient advocates and supporters of the Revolution, an original signer of the Declaration of Independence, a patriot and statesman, whose career was full of honor, whose life, services, talents and virtues, were the pride and glory of the nation, expired at his residence in Quincey Mass. on the 4th day of July at the advanced age of 92. His death on the Jubilee Anniversary of that Independence, which, FIFTY YEARS before, nearly at the same moment of time that his spirit left its earthly tenement, he pledged is fortune, honor and life to support, is one of the remarkable coincidences in the history of man. Had he been permitted by the Being to whom he owed his existence, who endowed him with great talents, and kept him in that course of irreproachable virtue and honor which has rendered his memory immortal, to select the time when his disembodied spirit should take its flight, would probably have chosen the very moment when a whole nation were employed in celebrating the glorious result of patriotism, when his name, and those of his compatriots, was upon the lips of ten millions of people, and the voice of gratitude and joy was resounding throughout the whole of the American Republic...Boston Courier OfficeWednesday, July 5--one o'clock.DIED, at his residence in Quincey, 6 o'clock in the afternoon of the 4th of July, the Hon. JOHN ADAMS, in the 92d year of his age.Annexed will be found the proceedings adopted by the authorities of Massachusett on learning the death of John Adams. The few particulars that marked his last scene are given in the Boston Ppers: the most remarkable one is, that having been for some days failing,--"On the Jubilee of Independence, his declining faculties were roused by the rejoicings in the metropolis. He inquired the cause of the salutes, and was told it was the fourth of July. He answered, "it is a great and glorious day." He never spake more. thus his last thoughts and his latest words wre like those of his whole life, thoughts and words which evinced a soul replete with love of country and interest in her welfare.